Night
by DazzleDust22
Summary: Night-loving Alice is taken on the road with her dad and sister at 3 in the morning.  Why?


**This one-shot is inspired by the movie "Grace is Gone". Superbly great, I love that movie :) **

There was a day five years ago, when my dad, before the drinking started, did something I thought was pretty cool. I didn't think too much of it, I was only thirteen. These things never happened to me. I was still enjoying the little things in life, just starting to feel confused and uncertain that something must be wrong. Something had to be wrong, because it didn't feel the same anymore. Or maybe it was always like this; I was just too blind to notice.

It was at about 2:30, the best part of the night when parties were dying down and the stars reached their peak in the sky. I'm an insomniac, and a proud one. I don't understand why people would want to sleep at a time like this, when it's so quiet and beautiful. I like to think god- or whoever created us, made it this way on purpose for all the lucky insomnia-tic people. I swear when I was younger, I saw things. Not in a crazy way, a dreamy way. I saw fairies and angels, dancing in the garden, and all trying to coax me to sleep. They were my friends, and I loved them, although all they talked about was sleep. But once I hit 9, they started fading. I miss them. And I'm still trying to find them.

But being an insomniac is not all that fun. There's school that I can't avoid and if I stay awake too long I can't get up in the morning. The doctor tried to get me take pills, but I refused to take them and they probably wouldn't work if I didn't want them to work.

On that night, I was wide awake, like always. My head right out the window, the wind hitting my face. For a winter night, it was pretty warm. There's something about nights, any night really, that can feel so real and content. But when you wake up, it all feels like a hazy dream, and you want to remember it so badly. It scared me that life was racing past too fast and that I was missing everything. During the day its so certain that thats the way life is. Fast and hard. All I ever listened to was my parents yelling at each other. I wondered why they got married in the first place if they hate each other so much. Not that I'm complaining so much. If they never got together, where would I be? Probably still hanging on a little balloon in the clouds, waiting for something to bring me down.

But at night, everythings still. And quiet. I breathed in the fresh air of winter.

A sudden tap on the shoulder, startling me. I jumped.

"Alice."

I turned and saw my dad's face staring back at me.

"Yeah?"

"We're going. Put on some clothes and lets go."

I was getting kinda dozy, and his voice sounded so weird, and the combination of the words he just said didn't make any sense. But I learned a long time ago that questioning my father led to no where. Just yelling and lies.

He left quickly closing the door behind him, and I heard him waking up my sister, Krista. She whined for some time.

I went to my drawers and picked out a plain tee-shirt, black jeans, and jacket. I sat on my bed, finger combing my hair, waiting for something to happen. My hair still felt wet although I took a shower over 4 hours ago.

Krista bursted into my room, wearing her pink, flowing dress and jacket. She looks just like me I think, with the straight blonde hair and clear blue eyes, but just her lips are much redder then mine. You'd think she's wearing lip stick, but she doesn't. While she sleeps, she has a habit of sucking and biting her lips really hard.

"Alice! We're going!", she sang. She twirled around and around in my room, making her dress flow wide. She got dizzy quickly and collapsed on my bed, laughing. She's happy for a girl that got forced awake in the middle of the night.

Dad came in then, slinging Krista over his shoulder like a monkey, and taking my hand. Krista was still laughing. Didn't she get it? We're leaving home with dad, at 3 am, doesn't she feel that something must be wrong? I still felt drowzy, which is so unusual for me.

Krista and I sat in the backseat, buckled our seat belts, and dad just drove. It scared me a little. Dad was driving too fast, Krista loves it, and I'm too tired to pay attention. I wish mom were here. But she's not. She's in the hospital, 10 miles away from our home, getting experimental treatments for a sickness we're not really sure of.

Krista didn't get the message that dad just wanted to drive in silence.

"Dad?", said Krista.

"Yep."

"Where are we going?"

"I'm not sure yet pumpkin."

"Can I pick where we're going?"

"No, daddy gets to pick today."

"Please."

"Not today Krista."

"Please."

"Krista."

"Please, please, please, PLEASE?"

I think dad sorta cracked.

"Ok, Krista, what did you have in mind?", he yelled, making me jump.

I gave Krista a look that said "Say something good", but she goes on, pretending she didn't see me, totally confident dad will like her idea.

"The zoo."

Dad looked so irritated, and I swear I almost had a heart attack when he turned the car sharply to the left and I banged my head on my window. I saw bright lights through squinted eyes, and when my dad got out and I smelled gasoline, I knew we were at the gas station.

Since dad was out of the car, this gave me a chance to talk to Krista.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

"Hell's a bad word."

"Krista, why did you tick dad off like that? He's already upset."

"I just wanted to know where we were going", she said quietly.

"The zoo!", I asked, exasperated.

Dad came back into the car then, and I shut up.

I decided to ask Dad where we're going later, after Krista's asleep.

About an hour later, I was still tired and Krista fell asleep, snoring lightly.

Dad opened the window about a inch for me, i guess he knew I like it open, but he didn't do it right. Mom would open them all the way, so the wind could hit against my face and tangle my hair. Although she'd complain that it was too cold, she always kept it open for me.

I couldn't get to asking where we were going, because when I was going to, we were apparently already there. Dad turned into a dark parking lot, spotted with dim lights from the street lamps. Again, he slung the nearly dead-asleep monkey on his shoulder and took my hand.

The motel we walked into was surprisingly nice. The lady at the front desk looked just as sleepy as Krista. I loved the big TV and the smell of the free crappy soaps in the bathroom. The only thing I hated was how they tucked the blankets deep under the mattress and they were so hard to pull out. I was happy once I saw there were two beds, and I thought I'd have to share with Krista, but Dad let me have it to myself. I felt sorry for him. He's gonna be squashed to the end of the bed, almost tipping off cause Krista likes sleeping in weird positions.

I climbed into my own bed, feeling pretty good.

"Night Alice", my Dad whispered.

"Night".

I went to sleep at 5:30, still dark outside, and I woke up naturally 16 minutes later. I stared at the ceiling for a while, thinking about the night I got kissed for the fourth time. The first three I don't really count as kisses; they weren't important. When I was 6, I loved playing that game called "house" at kindergarten. The teacher was horrible now I realize. She wouldn't watch us at all, she was always reading her magazine. Anyway, "house" consisted of me, Tom A and Tom B, Hanna, and Miles. Hanna and Miles were my kids, and Tom A and Tom B were my husbands. We all knew that I can't have 2 husbands, at least not at once. So they both took turns everyday. They were both twins that looked so much the same, but they were nothing alike. Tom A was mean, but dressed and acted like a saint when adults walked in the room. Tom B looked like a little bad ass, but he was so sweet, giving me his snacks. I "loved" him. Well unfortunately on kiss day, I didn't get Tom B. Tom A basically tackled me when I was serving breakfast and he suddenly just licked his lips and pecked me on the lips, smiling so big. I was screaming and the teacher came up, asking me what's wrong. "Everything!" I wailed, and I refused to tell anyone what happened, and when one of the kids who witnessed what happened told the teacher, I did the thing I did best back then: deny, deny, deny. Now that I think of it, that wasn't my first kiss. That was a mistake and doesn't count. I mentally erased off Tom A off of my first kiss chalkboard.

I felt instantly better.

My first official kiss was with Joe Lamb. My heart seemed to respond instantly. The person I loved more than night itself. He kissed me under the stars, asking first, and he blushed the whole time. I want to see him.

But I can't. We're miles away from him. But in a way, I like being away. Lillian is crazy I swear, it makes my mind blow at how noisy it is.

Krista yawned and rubbed her eyes, propping up on her elbow.

"Hey", I whispered.

She got up and beside me. "Alice, why did Dad bring us here?"

I gave her a hug. "I don't know Krista. I don't know".

**I believe I'll keep this as a one-shot. But please review, thanks xoxo :)**


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